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| Liberman's life, unfolding against a vivid backdrop of world history, reads alternately like a novel by Nabokov and a chapter from 'The English Patient.'
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figure in the look of magazines
Death of former Conde Nast editorial director
By Jeff Bercovici
Alexander Liberman, who revolutionized both the look and the underlying philosophy of fashion magazines in his 58 years at Conde Nast, died on Friday at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. Liberman was 87 and had a history of heart trouble.
A Russian-born immigrant, Liberman joined Vogue in 1941 and quickly set about reinventing it as a forward-thinking magazine with a bold, modern look and a serious commitment to art.
As editorial director of parent company Conde Nast from 1962 to 1994, Liberman's authority extended throughout the publisher's growing stable of titles, and his influence resonated throughout the magazine world.
Despite his duties at Conde Nast, Liberman never wavered in his devotion to art, dedicating himself to painting, sculpture, photography and writing. It was as a sculptor that he met with the greatest success, crafting giant works of welded steel and scrapped machinery that found their ways to parks, campuses, and museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
As a photographer and photo essayist, Liberman produced a number of books, including "The Artist in His Studio," for which he photographed such cultural icons as Picasso, Chagall, and Matisse; "Marlene: An Intimate Photographic Memoir," which depicted Marlene Dietrich in words and pictures; and "Then," his last book, which featured black and white photos of Coco Chanel, Truman Capote, and other prominent figures.
Liberman channeled his passion for art into his vision for Vogue, making room in the magazine for essays by contemporary critics and features on famous painters. He sought to do away with the staged, artificial photography favored in fashion magazines in the 1940s and 50s, and worked to bring such noted photographers as William Klein, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon to the pages of Vogue.
Liberman's life, unfolding against a vivid backdrop of world history, reads alternately like a novel by Nabokov and a chapter from "The English Patient." He was born Sept. 4, 1912 to wealthy parents in Kiev, Ukraine, but sent abroad for schooling at the age of nine, four years after the Russian Revolution.
As a child he attended boarding schools in London before moving to Paris, where he would study painting and architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
After a brief marriage to German model and skiier Hildegarde Sturm, Liberman entered into an affair with Tatiana Iacovleva du Plessix, Russian expatriate and wife of Count Bertrand du Plessix, a French resistance fighter and aviator. The count was killed when his plane was shot down, and his wife escaped Nazi-occupied France with her lover and her daughter in 1941.
They sailed for New York, where Liberman traded on his experience as art director of Vu, a French precursor to Life magazine, to get a job at Vogue working under art director Fehmy Agha. Within two years Liberman had replaced Agha, and by 1960 he was general art director for all of Conde Nast's titles, a position he held before being named editorial director in 1962.
During his years with the company, he formed close working friendships with many top executives including Conde Nast himself, who had personally hired Liberman in 1941. Chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. was also among his closest friends.
Among his acquaintances Liberman numbered countless members of the cultural and intellectual elite, and he and his wife hosted frequent parties attended by the likes of Salvador Dali, Christian Dior, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Princess Margaret.
After a 31-year tenure as editorial director, Liberman retired in 1994, though he retained the title of deputy chairman for editorial of Conde Nast. James Truman, former editor-in-chief of Details magazine, took his place.
His wife Tatania died in 1991, and Liberman remarried the next year to Melinda Pechango, who had been her nurse. Liberman is survived by Pechango, his stepdaughter, and two step-grandchildren, as well as a legacy of vision and innovation in the worlds of art and journalism.
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Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.